Deputy helps find missing wallet, wedding ring

Karen Adame, left, listens as Deputy George Marinez of the Craven County Sheriff's Office tells how he found her wallet.

Bill Hand/Sun Journal

By Megan Beyer, Sun Journal Staff

Published: Saturday, August 10, 2013 at 04:21 PM.

While wrangling two small dogs and a three-year-old into the car, Karen Adame did something she never does; placed her wallet on the trunk of her vehicle. What happened next? She drove away without the wallet.

It wasn’t until eight o’clock that night that Adame noticed just how thin her purse looked. Knowing that was unusual she looked in the purse and said, “Oh no!” It was at that moment when she realized her wallet was missing.

Panic set in immediately, not because she worried about her cash, credit cards or identification cards. Adame was worried sick because her wedding ring was inside the wallet. Adame, an aircraft mechanical parts repairer at Cherry Point air station, who has been furloughed, knew the money could be replaced but her ring could not.

Adame had experienced some swelling in her hands earlier that day. She took off her wedding ring and placed it in the change pocket of the wallet so they would not get stuck on her finger.

Adame hesitated but finally told her husband what happened. He hopped in his truck in search of her bright pink wallet along the route she had taken that day. He returned home empty handed. After she ransacked the house and the car she finally felt it was time to make a call to the Craven County Sheriff’s Office to report it lost. This would turn out better than she had ever imagined.

The police report was assigned to Deputy George Marinez, a retired search and rescue corpsman, who was sworn in with the sheriff’s department in 2009.

“I was frantic and I know I rambled. I explained to him (Marinez) what everything looked like. I explained the ring to him,” Adame said.

While wrangling two small dogs and a three-year-old into the car, Karen Adame did something she never does; placed her wallet on the trunk of her vehicle. What happened next? She drove away without the wallet.

It wasn’t until eight o’clock that night that Adame noticed just how thin her purse looked. Knowing that was unusual she looked in the purse and said, “Oh no!” It was at that moment when she realized her wallet was missing.

Panic set in immediately, not because she worried about her cash, credit cards or identification cards. Adame was worried sick because her wedding ring was inside the wallet. Adame, an aircraft mechanical parts repairer at Cherry Point air station, who has been furloughed, knew the money could be replaced but her ring could not.

Adame had experienced some swelling in her hands earlier that day. She took off her wedding ring and placed it in the change pocket of the wallet so they would not get stuck on her finger.

Adame hesitated but finally told her husband what happened. He hopped in his truck in search of her bright pink wallet along the route she had taken that day. He returned home empty handed. After she ransacked the house and the car she finally felt it was time to make a call to the Craven County Sheriff’s Office to report it lost. This would turn out better than she had ever imagined.

The police report was assigned to Deputy George Marinez, a retired search and rescue corpsman, who was sworn in with the sheriff’s department in 2009.

“I was frantic and I know I rambled. I explained to him (Marinez) what everything looked like. I explained the ring to him,” Adame said.

Not sure what to do while waiting and hoping for someone to turn the wallet in, Adame asked Marinez for advice. He advised her to cancel her credit cards and she said, “But my ring…”

Marinez tried to comfort Adame by letting her know he had been through this with his wife when she lost her wedding ring.

“He told me it was OK and he understood because he knew how his wife was when she lost her ring. He was so sweet to me and I was acting crazy,” Adame said.

“It’s not just her (Adame) losing her stuff. Their financial security could be compromised,” Marinez said.

Adame took heed of the advice from Marinez and stayed up late calling credit card companies and fretting over the idea of never seeing her ring again. A couple hours after midnight, Adame’s daughter, Jessica, told her she thought someone was at the door.

Adame opened her front door to find Officer Marinez standing there. He held out a bright pink wallet and said “Does this look familiar?”

Taken by complete surprise, Adame did recognize the wallet. It was hers and she could not get to the change pocket fast enough. She peeked into the little pocket and sure enough her wedding ring was nestled in just the way she left it.

Once she knew the ring was safe she began checking for other items. About ten credit cards were missing but that was of no concern to her at this point.

Adame filed the report in hopes of someone turning the wallet in to law enforcement. She didn’t expect Marinez to go searching for the wallet himself but that is exactly what he did.

Her luck didn’t stop there. The following day, after Marinez showed up with the wallet, he appeared on her door step yet again. This time with two of her credit cards in hand. He went back to the road side where he found the wallet and luckily found the cards.

“He’s really awesome. Adame said, “I’m really blessed.”

And as if Adame hadn’t been fortunate enough, she was contacted by a stranger on Facebook, who turned out to be Tommy Best. Best sent her a message letting her know he found eight of her credit cards along Kale Road while he was walking his dog.

“I never expected that. I thought it was gone and I was never going to get it back,” Adame said.

Adame said from now on the wallet stays in her purse and as for the ring, “It is not coming off. I don’t care if my finger swells around it.”

Megan Beyer can be reached at 252-635-5671 or megan.beyer@newbernsj.com.